CSULB again named 'best value' public university by Princeton Review

LONG BEACH - Cal State Long Beach has once again been named as one of the nation's "Best Value" public universities by The Princeton Review.

Released this week, the list of the "Best Value Colleges for 2012" selected 150 institutions - 75 public and 75 private - as its best values based on surveys of administrators and students at 650 colleges and universities across the county.

The selection criteria covered factors including academics, costs of attendance and financial aid.

Cal State Long Beach was one of two California State University campuses to make the list of public institutions; the other was Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

For public universities, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill came out on top followed by the University of Virginia and New College of Florida.

For private institutions, Williams College in Boston came out on top followed by Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and Princeton University in New Jersey.

Last year, Cal State Long Beach was the only CSU campus to make the list.

"At a point in a nation when state legislatures and individual colleges and universities are going to be held to much higher federal standards, it is good for the public and our students to know that Cal State Long Beach remains a national model for higher education value," President F. King Alexander said in a statement.

The ranking, he said, "also indicates to taxpayers, consumers, students and parents that the high price tag associated with many colleges and universities nationwide has nothing to do with the quality of the educational experience being offered."